"It's strange," Ruby remarked as they pushed through some hanging vines, "I had a look at your werewolf and his injuries don't seem all that severe, I would have thought he would have tried transforming by now."
Kashvi looked up guiltily but Ruby fixed her with a narrowed gaze, "Also if I were you I'd wear my hood up like your friend, it's always best to hide ones neck around a werewolf."
Ruby emphasized the word 'neck', making Kashvi flinch, she realised the other girl must have seen her witch mark. Kashvi paused in her tracks momentarily but Ruby looked back with a tight smile,
"I knew a witch once, her name was Ava and she saved mine and my father's lives."
Kashvi breathed out in relief and gave a curt nod before starting walking again,
"I'm sorry about your father," Kashvi said after a few moments of silence. It seemed like a foolish offering of sympathy, everyone was dead or dying nowadays, but Ruby smiled again.
"Thank you, he was a good man. A strong hunter. My whole family...we were hunters even before the bombs."
Kashvi looked up, now that was rare, barely anyone knew of werewolves before the bombs. "Are they?" she began tentatively.
"All dead," Ruby replied, her mouth set in a grim line, "I was lucky to find another group of hunters so quickly or I would have been on my own."
There was a shout behind them, making them stop. Ruby cocked her head quizzically and Kashvi padded her way back towards where Cameron was gesturing exasperatedly at Devon.
"You realise he can’t see you?" Kashvi remarked drily.
"Kashvi we need to loosen the ropes - Mateo's too slow," Devon announced when he heard her. Devon pointed back towards where the werewolf was standing, his face stony and impassive.
"Bullshit, he just doesn't want us to get anywhere quickly so he's dragging his feet," snapped Trudy.
Kashvi sighed and drew nearer the wolf, she looked into his pale gold eyes which were fixed on Devon.
"Hey you," Kashvi snapped her fingers in front of Mateo’s face, earning her raised hackles and a baring of teeth.
"The ropes?" Kashvi asked.
"Are too tight," Mateo growled in reply.
Cameron laughed mirthlessly behind them, "He's a wolf - he'll say anything if he thinks it'll get him out of here."
Mateo’s expression remained unchanged as he stared straight forwards, ignoring the hunter.
"Devon - hold the rope taut," Kashvi instructed before kneeling down in front of the werewolf.
"Are you fucking crazy?" Trudy snapped. "Who gives a shit if he's in pain?"
"It's not about pain," Kashvi bit back, "but if he can't walk then I certainly can't carry him - can you?"
Kashvi drew up the wolf's trousers up to show the purple smudged rope straining against his burned skin. The wounds looked like they were infected, even though that was impossible for a wolf. The scabs were blistering and oozing puss.
It smelled disgusting and Kashvi screwed up her face as she fumbled with the rope. She sensed Ruby draw up beside her and looked up, Ruby's arrow was trained against Mateo’s neck.
"One move..." Ruby murmured. The wolf growled low in his throat but stayed still.
Kashvi looked back down and finished untying the rope. The burns on Mateo’s ankles hissed and immediately begin to heal before she wrapped it round afresh, although leaving more slack this time. Kashvi finished and drew herself up.
"How's that?" she asked, wiping her hands against her jeans.
"Fantastic," Mateo muttered with gritted teeth, earning a snort from Cameron who spat at the ground.
"Fucking dog."
They managed to set a faster pace for the rest of the day and traversed a fair portion of the forest.
Ruby chatted to Kashvi about her hometown before the bombs and the travels she had been on since then. She told Kashvi that she had been so far north as to be at the edge of the known territories.
"It's cold that far north," Ruby explained, "and I didn't see a single werewolf all the time we were up there, or another human, I'm not sure there even is anything beyond the territories."
Kashvi told her about the game she played, trying to imagine what people would be without the bombs.
"What do you think I would be?" Ruby smiled, Kashvi cocked her head.
"I don't think I've figured you out yet," Kashvi admitted, earning her another of Ruby’s grins. A moment later she heard Devon cackling inadvisably loudly over some joke he had just made. Kashvi sighed, "Devon of course, would be a failed stand-up comedian."
"He's your..." Ruby trailed off.
"Brother," Kashvi supplied, "Not by blood obviously, not in the conventional sense anyway. But we shared a father for a while in happier times and it's always been me and him you know?"
Ruby nodded, "It must be nice to have someone you can count on like that."
Kashvi smiled, Ruby was the first person they had come across who hadn't automatically perceived Devon as a burden.
"It is," Kashvi replied softly and turned round to look back at Devon who was talking animatedly with his hands, the end of the rope tied around one of his wrists. Kashvi followed it back to notice with a frown that the werewolf's eyes were still trained on Devon.
Comments (10)
See all